Think you’re too small, young, old, poor or ______________ (insert your favorite self-limiting belief) to make a difference. Think again.
Nirvan Mullick has raised the bar on making someone’s day!
Have you heard of Caine Monroy? Thanks to day maker and film maker Nirvan Mullick you probably have….if not, check out the video below!
WATCH THIS
Nirvan Mullick has used technology, social media and a flashmob to create a viral video sharing Caine’s inspiring story with the world.
Caine is a 9 year old entrepreneur whose cardboard arcade and story has a touched the hearts of millions this past week.
A special shout out to producer @JustinBomberg for being the first one to share this video with me! Thank you Justin!
There are many remarkable life lessons in the 11 minute video so I hope you check it out and share this post with others.
What’s happened since this video posted online last week is incredible. A real life fairy tale. Dreams do come true. Check the links at the bottom to learn more.
I’m not going to try and summarize the video as that’s been done by bloggers and news outlets on all seven continents by now so instead I’ll share a couple brief positive lessons from the video.
Here’s a quick recap of my positive takeaways from the video…..
Caine: The inspiration for the story. I hope my own kids are like Caine. His sense of optimism, business, creativity, and willingness to prepare a treat to witness.
Caine’s positive attitude is a blueprint for success. He is undeterred by the day-to-day rejection and difficulty in finding paying customers. Despite the lack of customers Caine continues to build, improve and enhance his arcade games and the (potential) user experience for his customers (if he ever gets one).
Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. (Winston Churchill)
Caine is a business genius. Just look at Caine’s compelling offer at the arcade:
- 4 plays for $1 OR
- For $2 you get a fun pass.
- What is a fun pass? A fun pass is good for 500 plays!!
- Do the math:
- $1 for 4 plays ($0.25 a play) or $2 for 500 plays ($0.004 a play)
It’s a no brainer, right?!
Whether he realizes it or not, Caine’s offer for a fun pass is a Harvard Business review case study about the hidden forces on buying decisions and reminds me of the book Predictably Irrational
Caine’s creativity is a great example of what can go right when we let the imagination a of child run wild. Who could have thought of some of that stuff but a child who’s brain has not yet been polluted by society?
A perfect example: The calculators on the arcade machines to verify the authenticity of the fun passes are utterly ridiculous yet amazing at the same time. He hasn’t sold a single fun pass yet and he’s already stealing a page from the blueprint of Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon) & Dr. David J. Schwartz (author of Magic of Thinking Big).
The will to win is nothing without the will to prepare to win. (Vince Lombardi)
Finally, when the flashmob hit, Caine was ready.
It’s better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one, than to have an opportunity and not be prepared! (Les Brown)
George (Caine’s dad): In an age where parents tell their children “no, no, no” and try to micromanage their kids, George’s unconditional support of Cain is inspiring. Heck, he even let Caine use what appears to be almost 50% of the storefront of his business.
His positive encouragement and use of the company’s boxes and space, allows Caine the freedom he needs to develop his passion, let his creativity run wild and build his arcade.
George gave Nirvan the green light to make the video about Caine his 9 year old son.
Question for all you parents out there: How many you would give one of your customers a virtual stranger who stopped by to make a one time purchase at your place of business, permission to make a video of your child and put it on the internet?
This was a risk for George, whether he realized it at the time or not.
Nirvan Mullick: Clearly a kid at heart himself, Nirvan was Caine’s first customer, purchaser of the “fun pass” and the creator of this video.
Nirvan was clearly moved by meeting Caine and his experience at Caine’s Arcade. All too often we are moved by something and do nothing about it. Nirvan was a man of action!
Nirvan’s initiative to ask George for permission to make a short film about Caine was taking a risk. There was no telling if this would work or what George would say to his request.
Nirvan put a lot of time and effort into this project seemingly with no expected return, other than using flashmob to make a child’s day and create a cool video about it.
Without Nirvan’s efforts and execution most of the world would not know Caine’s story.
Nirvan delivered. He executed on his promise to George to get Caine more customers. LA came out in masses to support Caine and make his day. Nirvan over-delivered as 100s of people showed up to Caine’s arcade.
Nirvan is the unsung hero here. Nirvan Mullick has raised the bar on making someone’s day!
Promise small, deliver BIG! Or promise BIG, deliver BIGGER!
The flashmob: Thanks to social media this story spread like wildfire and supporters showed up with signs, friends and enthusiasm to make Caine’s day.
In less than two weeks since posting this video the Caines Arcade Scholarship Fund has raised $170,351.
If you haven’t check out the video yet here it is. Enjoy the 11 minutes of goodness and stick with the video to the very end….even through the credits….Caine comes back on camera is all I will say.
Press play!
Caine’s Arcade from Nirvan Mullick on Vimeo.
So, what did you think? Hope this inspired you as much as it did me.
I’ve watched the video a number of times already and will refer to this post, Nirvan’s good deeds, effective execution and Caine’s story when I need a little extra jolt of life and inspiration in the future and hope you do too.
Keep learning & stay positive! Be a day maker today!
Thanks for reading this week. If you comes across any inspirational movies, videos or stories please send them to me by using the contact form below or posting them on my Facebook page. I’m also a daily tweeter of motivation, inspiration, quotes and awesomeness @thejoesweeney.
Other links you might enjoy:
- If you’d like to learn more about Caine’s Arcade here are some links
- Caine’s website
- Caine’s Facebook Page (has over 94,000 likes in less than 10 days) and Twitter account are great places to keep up with the latest and greatest news and support efforts.
- Nirvan Mullick creator of the video. Here is the link to his Twitter account
